A look at economic developments around the globe

A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday:

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LISBON, Portugal - Europe struggled to contain its growing debt crisis as Portugal took radical austerity measures to fend off the speculative trades that are pushing it toward a bailout and Ireland negotiated the final terms on its own imminent rescue.

With Portugal and Spain's insistence that they will not seek help, echoing similar declarations from Ireland and Greece before them, an eery sense of deja vu struck investors and Europe braced for what seemed to have become inevitable - more expensive bailouts.

The Portuguese Parliament approved a debt-reducing package of unpopular measures, including tax hikes and pay and welfare cuts, similar to those introduced in other European countries scrambling to restore market confidence in their economies.

While that move helped avoid a sharper deterioration in bond markets, the sense among analysts was that it was just buying time. Yields remained near record highs, stocks slumped across the board and the 16-nation euro hit its latest two-month low.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 0.5 percent, Germany's DAX fell 0.5 percent and the CAC-40 in France ended 0.8 percent lower.

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DUBLIN - Ireland's banks were hit with downgrades - one to junk bond status - as speculation mounted that an EU-IMF bailout of Ireland could require senior bondholders to help cover the massive losses.

Prime Minister Brian Cowen saw his own hold on power slip another notch, as his ruling Fianna Fail party lost a special election for a long-empty seat in parliament. The winner vowed to force Cowen from office before he can pass an emergency 2011 budget being demanded as part of the international rescue.

The New York-based Standard & Poor's credit ratings agency said it was lowering Anglo Irish Bank six notches to a junk-bond B grade. It also cut the ratings on Bank of Ireland one notch to BBB+, and downgraded both Allied Irish Banks and Irish Life & Permanent one notch to BBB.

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MADRID - Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said there was no chance Spain would seek a bailout.

Asked in an interview on Spain's RAC 1 radio if he ruled out financial help from the European Union, Zapatero said "absolutely."

He said Spain's plans to reduce its deficit were on track and that its total debt was still 20 percentage points below the European average.

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NEW DELHI - Indian investigators say they are intensifying their probe into a multimillion dollar banking and financial services scandal and have issued notices to 21 more companies in connection with the scam.

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TOKYO - Consumer prices in Japan fell 0.6 percent in October, marking the 20th straight month of decline as the country struggles to keep its economic recovery alive.

Deflation raises individual purchasing power but is generally bad for the overall economy, as it cuts into company profits and can trigger job and wage cuts.